débordésvsdécoréesTell them apart

Which to use

“débordés” and “décorées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,455
“débordés” frequency rank
#24,945
“décorées” frequency rank
56400
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débordés décorées
Definition Masculin pluriel de débordé. Féminin pluriel de décoré.

Where the eye mixes débordés and décorées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. débordés (CVCVCCVC) and décorées (CVCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
débordés
8 ch
décorées

Visual trap between débordés and décorées

A purely visual mix-up. débordés (\de.bɔʁ.de\) and décorées (\de.kɔ.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débordés is recorded at frequency rank #31,455, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.bɔʁ.de\. décorées is at rank #24,945, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.kɔ.ʁe\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 56400, this pair ranks #121,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débordés vs décorées

Shared letters: dorsé. Private to "débordés": b. Private to "décorées": ce.

"débordés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "décorées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "débordés" and "décorées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.bɔʁ.de\ versus \de.kɔ.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "débordés" or "décorées" show up more?
"décorées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,945 in our French list, against #31,455 for "débordés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débordés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décorées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débordés" and "décorées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décorées vs décorent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #121,319 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list